John Gillespie Magee JR - High Flight

Spitfire pilot
Canadian pilot shot down in 1941

Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter silvered wings;
Sunward I’ve climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun split clouds—and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of – wheeled and soared
And swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov’ring there,
I’ve chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long, delirious, burning blue
I’ve topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew-
And, while with silent lifting mind I’ve trod
The high untrespassed sanctitiy of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.

John Gillespie Magee JR

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